Advisory committee flooded with applicants

Judging by the number of people who submitted applications for the city’s Municipal Facilities Advisory Committee, there is significant public interest in the direction the city hall project will take.

More than 40 citizens applied to sit on the committee, which will research siting and design issues and will provide recommendations to the Federal Way City Council.

The City Council agreed to create the committee following some questions about how soon and how much the public would be involved in the City Hall decision-making process.

The facility, expected to cost between $25 million and $30 million, will be the biggest capital expenditure undertaken in the city’s 12-year history.

Councilmembers expect the facility will house the Federal Way Police Department, municipal court and city offices.

A majority of the Council said early on they would like to see the facility built downtown to boost economic development, though some have since expressed an interest in comparing prices among construction downtown, on the edge of downtown and in the suburbs.

Once the city began accepting applications for the committee, 42 people responded. Assistant city manager Derek Matheson said the turn-out was unusual.

“Forty-two is very high for a city committee,” he said. “With most of the boards and committees, we struggle to even get enough to fill the positions. It’s indicative of what an important project this is.”

The City Council interviewed six of the applicants April 16 and 18 applicants last Monday. They plan to interview the rest April 29.

Despite the high turn-out of citizens interested in serving on the committee, only two experts applied. The city was hoping for four experts in the fields of real estate, business, finance or development.

Because of that, the committee might have a slightly different composition than initially anticipated, with fewer experts and a couple more citizen members, Matheson said.

The Council is expected to meet May 7 in a special meeting to discuss the candidates’ qualifications. The Council will appoint members to the committee at the regular council meeting that evening.

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